In modern aeronautics, composite materials are very often used in manufacturing various aircraft parts. Such materials, having very specific properties, allow producing light, strong and durable aircraft parts.
There are several methods for manufacturing composite material parts, among which flat or slightly curved tape laying (ATL, Automated Tape Lay up) and fiber placement (FP) for parts with a great curvature can be highlighted.
Generally, flat parts or parts with a slight curvature are manufactured by means of ATL technology. These parts are then directly cured, if the geometry of the part after tape laying is the same as the end geometry, otherwise they are subjected to forming for obtaining the end geometry before being subjected to a curing cycle.
To manufacture parts having symmetry of revolution or a complicated geometry, FP techniques, tape laying by means of a movable head and on a tool rotating with respect to an axis, are used.
By means of the FP technique used today, a laid up part with a geometry similar enough to the end geometry is obtained so as to enable subjecting it to a curing cycle without needing intermediate forming. To that end, the tape laying tool has an outer surface that corresponds to the end geometry of the desired part.
As is known, the FP technique is a process in which bands of pre-impregnated material are arranged on a tape laying tool, a part with a previously established geometry being obtained. For placing the bands on the surface of the tool, a robotic arm which moves along the mentioned tool is used, which together with the rotation of the tool, allows positioning the bands of pre-impregnated material in the desired position and orientation. In the FP technique used today, once a band is placed, it must be cut and the robotic arm must then be repositioned to again initiate the positioning of another new band in another specific direction. Ultimately, this system of manufacturing composite material parts involves stopping and repositioning the robotic arm as well as the tape laying tool on which the bands of pre-impregnated material are positioned every time the end of a band section is reached.
In parts having an open section, the bands of pre-impregnated material used in tape laying are shorter than the bands used in laying up parts having a closed section, so the number of stops made by the machine is high, which entails greater time losses.
The production rate is limited with the FP technology used today because since the tape laying tool has the end geometry of the part, only one part can be laid up every time tape laying is performed.
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